Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Has Yet to Release Results of Investigation Into County AIDS Office

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has yet to release the results of an Oct. 10 investigation into the county's Office of AIDS Programs and Policy, prompting some to question the delay, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reports (Rester, Long Beach Press-Telegram, 12/2). Supervisors requested the investigation over concerns that OAPP Director Chuck Henry had a conflict of interest because he also served as head of the HIV Commission that determines how federal and state money is spent. A separate county auditor-controller investigation, issued in November, indicated there "was at least the appearance of conflicts of interest" among the HIV Commission, which is the legislative body for the OAPP (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/18). County officials said that attorney/client privilege is the reason they are not releasing the report; however, attorneys for the officials said that the supervisors could legally waive their right to privilege and make the document public. "It begs the question, what is the smoking gun that requires this much secrecy? Every single time that we have dug deeply into what's going on (with the HIV Commission), we have found something bad that has had to be fixed, so we're not crying wolf," Michael Weinstein, director of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said, adding, "If there's no conflict of interest, then the county should have no reluctance to release this report." John Wallace, a spokesperson for the Board of Supervisors, said, "It's a confidential document between county counsel and the Board of Supervisors. We're not the main client so we wouldn't want to release something that really isn't our document to release" (Long Beach Press-Telegram, 12/2).

This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.